Serum CA125 and CA19-9 in a Patient with Pancreatic Disease

 

NOTE: The reported sensitivity and specificity reported in Table 1 do not match the data displayed in Figure 3. The reported positivity for CA125 and CA19-9 appears to be for the OR function rather than AND.

 

Patient selection: pancreatic disease

 

Parameters:

(1) serum CA125 in units/mL (cancer antigen)

(2) serum CA19-9 in units /mL (carbohydrate antigen)

 

Abnormal cutoffs:

(1) CA125 > 32 units/mL

(2) CA19-9 > 37 units/mL

CA125	CA19-9	Pancreatic Carcinoma	Pancreatitis
elevated	elevated	probable (17/30)	excluded
elevated	normal	possible (3/30)	unlikely
normal	elevated	possible (9/30)	possible
normal	normal	unlikely (1/30)	possible

 

Limitations:

• The interpretation assumes that no other conditions are present. Chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis and a variety of tumors may be associated with an elevated CA125. Cirrhosis, cholangitis and a variety of tumors may be associated with an elevated CA19-9.

• The cutoffs will vary with the population and assay method used. Both assays were RIA kits from Centrocor, Inc.